The Overlords, Page 5
Overlords everywhere! Snapdragon, Overlord of Little Asia, Millennium City The older generation of native Chinese and the superstitious among the younger generation of Chinese whom live, work, and play in the beautiful Little Asia district of Millennium City tell a story that somewhere in the deep and long forgotten parts of China stands a singular village, and a curious one at that: Zhando Qizi. It is said that in this village, no man may take a bride unless he is able to physically conquer her in hand-to-hand combat. Ergo, the women of Zhando Qizi are all trained in Kung-Fu from an early age. It is said that this tradition is kept to appease a local dragon god whom, if the tradition is maintained, will grant one of the infant girls in the village the power of a dragon every 1000 years. If the omens to be seen before this child was born then the dragon god would intend for this woman to bring peace, harmony, and justice to the world. But if the omens were dire than the god intended for the woman to be cast out of the village, to find her destiny in the West as a destroyer, a murderer, and a bringer of insanity. It is said that twenty-six years ago, when the next dragon child was to be born, ravens invaded the village. Fish died in the river, and the cows and oxen gave sour milk. The people of the village were terrified. When the child was born, she was hastily given away to the Chinese government, whom then allowed the child to be adopted by a prosperous young couple in Little Asia. This couple, Wing Song and his wife Kerry, named the child Yuhzu after Wing's grandmother. Six years later, the Songs left their daughter in the care of a babysitter, went out for a date night, and died in an auto accident. When authorities went to the Song home they found both the babysitter and the six year old Yuhzu gone. After that, all records of the child disappear. Now, is it possible that the Overlord Snapdragon is the missing Yuhzu Song? It's certainly possible. The elderly of Little Asia certainly believe so. But, although many members of Law Enforcement and several superheroes have spoken to Yuhzu Song, there has never been any evidence uncovered to suspect that she is either the missing child of the same name or the terrifying Snapdragon. Oh yes, there is a Yuhzu Song living and working in Little Asia, a very polite 26 year old family practitioner whom heals the sick out of Little Asia Presbyterian Hospital. If it had not been for the fact that Heroes Unlimited once battle Snapdragon face-to-face there are many in law enforcement whom would not have been convinced that Snapdragon, the crime lord, even exists. But Heroes Unlimited know better. Not only do they know Snapdragon exists, they also know that she and her crime organization, The Jade Fan, is responsible for all of the illegal narcotics and drug-related deaths that take place in Little Asia. In Little Asia itself Snapdragon is a bogeyman; a story told to young children to get them to behave: "If you don't settle down, Snapdragon will get you!" The Chinese there say she drinks blood. They say she can't be killed. They say that she can walk through walls, and spit poison, and tha she can turn into a giant snake. They fear the Jade Fan as wel, as much as they fear Snapdragon. *'Fu Wei Dao' is the second in command of the Jade Fan, and supposedly answers only to Snapdragon. In Little Asia he has another name: Cei Ti, which means "Side Kick". The name has a double meaning, meaning both a form of martial arts attack and a subordinate to a more powerful super-powered mentor. Side Kick's appearance is immaculate: a very handsome Chinese national always in the finest Armani suits. He speaks English, French, Spanish, and the Colombian dialect of Spanish fluently and with no trace of accent. As a young man, he was known in his native Beijing for winning dozens of martial arts competitions; he is considered the greatest living master of Hung-Gar kung fu in that city. *'Shin Gao' is Snapdragon's secret weapon; as deadly as she is breathtaking. Miss Gao is for all intents and purposes Fu Wei Dao's administrative and personal assistant. She schedules meetings, serves tea, and-when instructed to-assassinates. She seems too urbane and professional, but the truth is that she is a master of the White Crane form of kung-fu. Her favored weapons are a pair of folding hand fans, both of which are usually coated with a terrible and virulent neurotoxin. *'Ping Xiaodai' is unlike most super-human criminals a band of heroes is likely to encounter. He almost never goes to the battlefield, being a wheelchair bound 88 year old. He is also an extremely powerful Chinese wizard, which can and often does create a whole host of trouble for heroes on the hunt for Snapdragon. Trick Hand, Overlord of Venus, Raven's Grove When Mastermind turned his attention to Raven's Grove, he found nothing of any intense interest but was immediately intrigued by the sheer amount of tourist dollars flowing through the scenic city, with crime that was disoragnized and disharmonious. He began keeping a close watch on the city and soon took note of Trick Hand, an outspoken cult leader with a charismatic and magnetic personality. After having her investigated, he approached her with an offeer to become the Overlord of Venus, willing and able to supply her with the firepower to bring the arnachistic crime of the city under her thumb. Trick hand agreed, and within eight months had transformed the scattered crime of Venus into a smooth, well oiled machine. Trick Hand is Nicole Star, the twin sister of Raven's Grove hero Flourish. The two are exact opposites. Flourish's power flows from the Book of the Ageless, whereas Trick Hand's mystic power comes from her own force of will. Flourish is brash, hot-tempered, and abrupt; Nicole is businesslike, professsional, and level headed. Trick Hand owns and operates her own cult, the Sign of Cuss, which has gained recognition as an alternate pagan religion dedicated to nature. Although the Cuss has often been accused of crime, as has it's charming young leader, law enforcement has never been able to find any evidence directly linking the cult to any criminal activity. Trick Hand is undoubtedly a challenge for Heroes Unlimited, or any other super group. Lone superheroes hardly ever have a chance. Trick Hand's magic is all illusion and beguiling, she can fool each of the senses as easily as a child unwraps a Twinkie. In addition to her magic prowess she is a master of an esoteric Chinese martial arts, speaks several languages fluently, and is infinately familiar with Venus and all of its dealings. Her cult, the Sign of Cuss, is the largest in Paradigm City at almost 300 members. Many of these cultists are decent, law-abiding citiziens but all of them are fanatically devoted to Trick Hand and would do anything she asks of them. Trick Hand is very rich and very powerful in public and political circles. Almost nobody outside the Advent even knows that she is an Overlord. Trick Hand is also the leader of her own elite cadre of meta-human whom call themselves The Hand. *'Sundown '''is the leader of The Hand in Trick Hand's absence. This Mexican native is a superb leader and tactician, knowing each of his team-mates intimately on a psychological level and meeting their needs and desires to keep them happy. Sundown's magic is pure pyrokinetic: he can start or extinguish fires, hurl tongues and waves and balls of flame, immolate at will, and generate heat. *'Plastique is actually a well-known criminal, having been active as a solo villain and a member of a number of teams since the early Nineties. Plastique is able to agitate the air molecules around herself to detonate. The degree at which she explodes depends on how violently she triggers her powers: she can be as tame as a fircracker or let go with a whopping force equivalent to ten sticks of dynamite. Further she can, by striking a solid object, cause a detonation wave or impact that can bring down a small building. Plastique is not harmed by her own detonations. Plastique has made it know that she is jockying for a position as an Overlord with Mastermind and her team resents her for it. *'''Melodrama: is the team's mentalist. Her greatest power is to emphatically overwhelm her target with uncontrollable rage, causing them to turn on their team mates. Aside from this she can inflict any emotion she chooses, as well as being able to halt her foe in place by inducing crippling migraines. *'Explicit '''likes to play with her name by showing off as much skin as possible, she's really quite vain. She also has an odd choice in costume: a pair of velvet bunny ears and a velvet bunny tail. She is the team's tanker. She can withstand even military-grade firepower and can lift fifty tons. She is capable of leaping in fifty foot distances, and supplements her strength with some heavy-duty martial art skills. *'Madhouse is simply out to have fun with his powers. He doesn't really care much about getting infamous, or rich, or any of that; he just likes fighting superheroes almost as much as he does looking at Explicit's legs. Madhouse is a fearsome foe, being both a tanker able to ignore up to medium-grade firepower and able to lift 20 tons and a mentalist, able to induce severe audio and visual hallucinations in his targets. Vile, Overlord of North Hills, Millennium City If any criminal ever deserved to be named an Overlord as a reward, Vile is that criminal. Nancy Cartwright showed them. She showed them all. Fifteen years ago, when Nancy was only 12 years old, her criminal career began with the surfacing of her mutant powers. Equipped with her caustic skin and the Hung-Gar she had learned from her uncle for the past ten years, she devised a costume for herself, named herself Skunk, and hit the streets to get rich. Naturally, nobody ook her seriously, so after six months of trying to get her foot in the door ash attacked a Face boss of the Asphalt Dragons and did serious damage to him. When she then insisted be become part of the gang, the gang did not refuse. As a Dragon, Skunk learned a lot of the tricks of the trade: breaking and entering, picking pockets, simple muggings, and how to run a con. At th same time her erstwhile aunt and uncle--the loving couple whom had been raising her since the loss of her own parents--encouraging her martial arts studies, sending her to prep school, gymnastics, and singing lessons. Though Skunk denied it to her street gang friends, she loved her aunt and uncle as much as they loved her and she used much of her criminal income to support them. She slipped through the criminal underworld, making strong social connections and using her beauty, sexuality, and intelligence as weapons to attract allies. When she graduated school, she was offered a prestigous position with Olympic Industries as a business analyst. After as year of employment wth Olympic Industries both as business analyst Nancy Cartwright and as foot soldier Skunk for the criminal enterprises of the company, she was assigned to assist Demonseed in North Hills. She didn't argue her new position, taking time off only to attend the funeral of her uncle. Once in Demonseed's employ she requested that fifty percent of her paycheck be sent to her Aunt, an act that caught the attention of Mastermind himself. The Arch-Criminal, curious, began watching Nancy closely. Three months into her employment with Demonseed she struck, slaughtering the Overlord and most of his agents. Then she contacted Mastermind directly and openly declared herself as Vile, the new Overlord of North Hills. She topped off her message with a direct challenge to Mastermind to either accept her or send a team to take her out. It was a shot heard around the criminal underworld. Almost every criminal in Paradigm City waited with bated breath to see how Mastermind would react. His answer, coming a week after Vile's announcement, was filled with laughter and an unquivocable aquiesce to Vile's demands. He told everyone that as Skunk, Nancy had been under-rated and overlooked for a long time, and she deserved the title. Nobody would unerestimate her now. As it turns out, the Mastermind was correct. Vile is no slouch in the intelligence department. She holds a degree in business management and continues to practice Kenpo, for which she was named Californa State Champion as a teenager. She is fluent in several business languages, and has mastered a number of underworld skills. Vile is a genetic mutant, able to coat her skin with a variety of chemical substances. The primary one she uses, Coating A, creates a frictionless coating over her body that allowes her to 'skate' at up to 100 miles per hour and makes it impossible for her to be bound, held, or constrained; she simply slips out of the hero's grip like a peeled grape. Coating B is extremely caustic, able to eat through even metal at the rate of one foot per second; it's extremely virulent. Coating B makes Vile especially dangerous in hand to hand combat, as the acid will affect anything and anyone that comes into direct contact with her. Coating C, the one she uses least, deflects light away from her body, rendering her invisible to sight. In addition to the chemical coatings, Vile is able to unleash a toxic spray out to about thirty feet. This extremely foul smelling substance causes the targets caught by it to hack, vomit, and choke for a few minutes; rendering them completely helpless. It is this chemical that gave Vile her previous name of Skunk. Vile has pulled together a team of meta-humans to serve her in her duties as Overlord. The Ladies of the Night are all female, and many heroes and members of Law Enforcement have learned that all of the Ladies are dangerous. The Ladies' loyalty is not paid for; they are all friends that Vile made while working among various super-teams. They all contribute some of their paycheck to Vile, which she uses to continue to take care of her aunt. *'''Sycophaunt, Marie Preston, has been Vile's best friend and constant compaion since grade school. When Vile offered her a position as the leader of the Ladies, Sycophant didn't even think of refusing. Sycophant is able to release a variety of toxic streams from her hands. She has been observed to release clouds of tear gas, sleeping gas, knockout gas, toxic fumes, and chlorine gas. *'Fallen Angel' used to leader her own team, which sadly fell apart. Michelle Kionomi was happy to join the Ladies. She is an expert burglar and pick-pocket. She is able to become intangible in order to pass through solid object, and fights with a small bow equipped with a number of specialized arros such as armor piercing arrows, arrows that can curve around walls, net arroiws, and so on. *'Manga Pink' is the team mentalist. Happy and go lucky, Hiromi Natsuru used to belong to Fallen Angel's team and happily followed her to the Ladies. Pink is a substanial psychic, able to utilize mind control, pyrokinesis, mind scans, telepathy, and generate pure psychic ego attacks. *'Manga Playgirl' is the team's tanker. Nori Natsuru is able to knock groups down by punching the ground, send foes flying with a rabbit punch, likes to hurl cars and other large objects, can lift about forty tons effortlessly, and won't notice anything less than medium-strength firepower in terms of damage. She is Manga Pink's identical twin sister. *'Pleasure '''takes her name from the fact that she simple enjoys killing people, and murdering them with her bare hands if she is given a choice. Born Marta Erquidez in Brazil she is a rare creature that excites psychiatrists everywhere: a pure sociopath with a fondness for serial killing man in the legal profession. She is uniquely equipped for such a profession too, being a black belt in the esoteric martial art of Chi-Na. Every parry, strike, and grab of this art is designed for pain: victims of Pleasure suffer sever tendons, dislocated joints, broken bones, and organ failure. *'Pain 'used to belong to the Circus of Sorrows as a Senechal. She chose to leave the group when she fell in love with Demonseed. When Vile murdered her lover, Heather Jacobee's life fell apart. She is the only Lady that resents Vile, but doesn't dare move against her. As a former Seneschal the gymnastic, athletic Pain's skill set includes distance running, free climbing, and stealth. She is a black belt in an amazing style of martial arts which includes backflips, breakfalls, forward spins, rotating evasions, leaping dodges, rotary hand strikes, footsweeps, crescent and roundhouse kicks, drop kicks, and spinning disarms. Her style is so beautiful to watch that sometimes she manages to kill her target simply because they are too busy being mesmerized by how she moves. *'Leather 'is a typical, happy, fun-loving California girl, a leather clad dominatrix. Born under the burden of being black, poor, and unskilled Jennifer Stray is no stranger to hunger, fear, being penniless, and fueled by rage. Unlike her best friend Renee, Leather prefers fighting in close with a pair of barbed bullwhips. *'Lace '''is Renee Mayson, Leather's best friend. Wheras Leather likes fighting in close, Lace prefers range and distance. Having learned to shoot by both her father and her brother, the latter a decorated Marine, Lace loves fighting with pure firepower. She is always armed with a pair of .45 SCPs with armor-piercing rounds, a pair of .45 Glocks, an Ithaca stakeout shotgun, and lots of ammo belts. Category:Overlords Category:Villains